Aug 26, 2015, 12:40 AM
Weren't there two Ars Magica mu*'s back in the day? I think the second one never really got off the ground. I remember chargen'ing on it at any rate. IIRC Amberyl (i.e. who later opened Road to Amber) had a hand in both.
Fantasy Systems
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I am looking for a game suited well suited for fantasy that is not based on the classical D&D platform. Especially intrested in the depiction of magic and how it deals with that, personally not a fan of the spellslot way of D&D, I'll freely admit to not being too familiar with English gamelines.
(I wish I could just use some of the Swedish ones I have, alas.)
So, suggestions? If you can give a synopsis why your suggestions are great that'd be grand.
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Is the spell slot system your only gripe with it? Because it also has a points system. They originally used it for psionic stuff, but ... one of the gamelines converted it over to magic, too. It tends to give you a little more flexibility with what you can do.
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Savage Worlds is one of the "Can be adjusted to suit any setting" systems. You might try that.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ars_Magica is a classic.
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+1 Ars Magica is always worth a look, though for all the detail on learning, recording research, and so on, it is at it's heart more of a simple, "story"/whatever interests the players game system.
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I would also say give the original mechanics for Soverign Stone a look, magic was a skill like any other in it. Though it is hard to find and the second edition used D20.
Ars Magica is a really good suggestion too, and last i heard 4th ed was free on the publishers site, though that was a year or more back. -
Has anyone actually tried Ars Magica on a MU*? I've heard of the system (but never played it), yet just going from the wikipedia link that collaboration concept seems intriguing as a built-in element of what we're more or less using.
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To my knowledge no, but I was out of mushing for a few years when I had a night job so there could have been one from 2000-2003.
I think it could work, the hardest part would be educating folks on the mechanics, they are not quite as quick oto grasp as WoD is in some ways. -
I don't think a Ars Magica MU* would do well. I could be wrong, but it would be like an all Mage MU*.
Now if you went whole hog, and actually split up all the players across different Covenants across a setting slightly closer together than the source books, and gave them reasons to work together as well as disagree diplomatically over cultures, resources, and major events, you could have some high agency fun. People who wants to stay local could focus on their own RP,, adventures of the Companions, and so on.
I have a waggish sense of humor.
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@Misadventure Hm, shame. See, what I had in mind here is that most systems are built with the traditional the-DM-is-ever-present idea in mind then we go in and introduce MU* where that condition is rarely satisfied, so we're bastardizing them a bit so they can work.
Maybe something more loose and designed from scratch to accommodate the concept of everyone-is-a-DM instead could catch on.
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For the most part, the GM is not present is just a series of methods the players use. Rotation of ST duties is most typical, because most players are NOT comfortable with the idea that they are making up everything as they go.
Basically, only extreme fans of a given genre or property, who are happy that it played out "right" can easily be without a GM. You see that in folks who play MegaMan or Video Game or Cartoon based properties. They love how the property was portrayed and they want to create more of that. They don't need mystery, or even uncertainty in conflict. Cobra, the Decepticons, the villains are (almost) always defeated, and when they aren't its a conscious choice, not a wargame method of deciding.
I have looked at ways of having a set truth that is unknown, like Clue, where the Who, Where and How are in fact set and known by no one. However, you can only produce negatives with that set up, you can't easily generate information to discover that reacts to the true information in a rational and distinct way. The Castle of Magic boardgame used a list of like 16 numbers on each card so people could find out SOMETHING about hidden truths, but its still very factual stuff, not characterized. Examples: Person A is NOT from Faction 1. Faction 2 is neutral towards Goal Beta.
In the end, (I think) players would like characterization and interactivity with the unknown. That always, even if briefly, scene by scene, topic by topic, requires someone to know the truth and be the ST/GM for a bit.
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My only real irk with Ars Magica is how it set up this awesome system of realms and influences and then basically said, "Beeteedubs, Jesus wins against anything." If I were going to play on an Ars Magica MU, I would be a huge grump if that wasn't houseruled right out the window. Buuuuut that's pretty subjective.
Otherwise HOLY SHIT YES PLEASE
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I'd be fine if any Divinity trumped other stuff, or dropping out the Holy realm.
I have a waggish sense of humor.
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@Misadventure
Personally I wouldn't drop the Divine realm -- I'd think there could be a lot of story to mine from the "coming of the White God" -- I'd just want the same system of checks and balances to be applied to it as the other realms have. Hell, it could even keep its bonus against Infernal stuff, I just think it's stupid to make it automatically diminish ALL the other realms by default. -
Weren't there two Ars Magica mu*'s back in the day? I think the second one never really got off the ground. I remember chargen'ing on it at any rate. IIRC Amberyl (i.e. who later opened Road to Amber) had a hand in both.
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@Ide said:
Weren't there two Ars Magica mu*'s back in the day? I think the second one never really got off the ground. I remember chargen'ing on it at any rate. IIRC Amberyl (i.e. who later opened Road to Amber) had a hand in both.
There was at least one open, up-and-running ArM MUSH in the late '90s; I don't remember if Amberyl had a hand in that one. There was another one she was involved with that was set ... somewhere in Italy? I want to say Venice, but this was like 20 years ago at this point, and memory fails. I'm not sure whether or not it ever got off the ground.
I'm pretty sure some people who would later become part of Last Unicorn Games (Dune, Star Trek, Aria) were also involved with that one in some respect.
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@Olsson said:
So, suggestions? If you can give a synopsis why your suggestions are great that'd be grand.
Earthdawn. Earthdawn is a forgotten system, but one of the first to introduce the idea of exploding dice. It would be a nightmare to code, but it's a pretty awesome fantasy game and setting. I would play an Earthdawn game in a second. I have very fond memories of it.
Speaking of old systems, try Castle Falkenstein. It would be easy to code up for a MU*, but it lacks the crunchiness that some folks enjoy. Resolution is based on playing cards.
RuneQuest is also a game and setting that I've enjoyed. It's essentially based on a percentage system of resolution, like Palladium games. Although combat is a bit clunky, it does have Hit Locations, which always leads to humorous situations (I hit him in the abdomen again?!? His wife's gonna be pissed.) It's also set in Glorantha.
“It is better to live doing the things that you like. It is foolish to live within this dream of a world seeing unpleasantness and doing only things that you do not like.” -- Yamamoto Tsunetomo.
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@Ganymede said:
@Olsson said:
So, suggestions? If you can give a synopsis why your suggestions are great that'd be grand.
Earthdawn. Earthdawn is a forgotten system, but one of the first to introduce the idea of exploding dice. It would be a nightmare to code, but it's a pretty awesome fantasy game and setting. I would play an Earthdawn game in a second. I have very fond memories of it.
Speaking of old systems, try Castle Falkenstein. It would be easy to code up for a MU*, but it lacks the crunchiness that some folks enjoy. Resolution is based on playing cards.
RuneQuest is also a game and setting that I've enjoyed. It's essentially based on a percentage system of resolution, like Palladium games. Although combat is a bit clunky, it does have Hit Locations, which always leads to humorous situations (I hit him in the abdomen again?!? His wife's gonna be pissed.) It's also set in Glorantha.
I used to play RuneQuest in highschool.
"Excuse the hell out of you. He's a bag of dicks. I'm a carefully curated box of cocks." -- to @GirlCalledBlu upon being misrepresented.
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“It is better to live doing the things that you like. It is foolish to live within this dream of a world seeing unpleasantness and doing only things that you do not like.” -- Yamamoto Tsunetomo.
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@Ganymede said:
@Coin said:
I used to play RuneQuest in highschool.
Same here. Funny that.
Did you also date a girl who ended up leaving you for another dude who ended up running a RuneQuest game and killing your character with a fucking Jack-o-Bear because he was still at odds with you even though he "won" (ugh, he actually said this to me) and just wanted to be a dick about it? Because if so, we're living ... no, I'm a teacher and you're a lawyer, still very different lives.
P.S. I totally schooled him in Magic, though, so it's all right. #highschoolpriorities
"Excuse the hell out of you. He's a bag of dicks. I'm a carefully curated box of cocks." -- to @GirlCalledBlu upon being misrepresented.